The Caledonian Sleeper Train

20 November 2015

In order to make the most of our weekend trip to London, Nico and I took the Caledonian Sleeper train from Edinburgh to London on Friday night. It’s billed as a fancy, comfortable way to travel the distance without losing any time. With a ‘Two Together’ Rail card, we were able to get the tickets for much cheaper (75 pounds each) than the normal price (100 pounds or more!). With a regular train costing 50 to >100 pounds per ticket, the sleeper is a pretty good deal. 

All aboard!!

We arrived at Edinburgh Waverley at the earliest boarding time (11:00pm), about 40 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. We walked past the train car with the ‘reclining seats’ and peered into the window and felt happy that we had opted for the twin berths with actual beds. We were checked off a list by the attendant, and then we stepped into the correct train car and worked our way down the tiny corridor to our room.

The room was tiny, but sufficient and cute. It had a sink, two beds, and hangers for coats. There were storage areas for luggage by each bed and there were little flip-out trays for tea service or breakfast in the morning. They even gave us a little packet with a sleeping mask, earplugs, and a little bar of soap! The bathroom was down the hall, but it was the cleanest train toilet I've ever seen. 

Before the train even left, we wandered to the lavish dining car with leather couches and got a snack before bed. The food is supposed to be regional and delicious. We didn’t really get any of the signature dishes (unless you count haggis and bacon rolls) – I guess there’s something to try next time! We were waiting for our food when the train started moving.

The dining car with fancy leather couches and great service. 

Back in our room, we changed into pajamas and crawled into our individual bunks. The beds were comfy enough and, with the sleep masks to block out the bright green night light, we slept relatively well, despite several stops along the way. They add cars to the train on the way to London – the train was a lot longer in the morning than it was when we went to bed!

Normally, arriving early would be great, but it is less exciting when it means the train arrives at 6:15am instead of 7am. Who knew we would wish for a LONGER train ride! Other than being a little sleepy when we arrived, we had fun trying out the sleeper train. On to adventures in London!

Cooking in Morocco 3: Fun in the kitchen

The Moroccan cooking class felt like a professional cooking show, with all the beautiful vegetables and spices already displayed in dishes in a beautiful, enormous kitchen. 

Dressed like the locals.

We jumped in to help as much as we could. Apparently, not all people who have taken their cooking class were willing to get their hands dirty! What's the point of a cooking class if you aren't willing to learn by doing? This earned us brownie points with everyone there and they taught us a few extra dishes in return. 

The kitchen was also a flurry of languages. Comments and instructions went from one end of the chain to the other and back again, going through Moroccan Arabic - French - English and then back again with the response or jokes. As the person in our group with the most French speaking experience, I got to do the bulk of the French to English translation. I love cooking, but I also had a lot of fun practicing my translation - it's been a REALLY long time and I was surprised at how much I remembered. All this translating might seem like it could bog things down, but it was a fun flurry of languages and passion for cooking and it certainly kept us all laughing all the way through! 

Beauty in nature.

Plating our food so it looks as beautiful as it tastes. 

We all took turns frantically scribbling everything down in the notebook. This was the only way to remember everything since we were cooking 10 dishes approximately simultaneously. 

We took the class very seriously...really.

I assure you, we were working very hard...

One piece!

Master Chef Bram finishing the sugared apples with fleur d'orangier yogurt. 

Making meatballs for the kefta. 

The best part of a cooking class is the end - tasting all the wonderful things you've created! There is a special prize for anyone who reads through to the bottom (spoiler: it might be recipes!).

Our first course - Moroccan salads. Includes aubergine, green beans, and the salad that essentially means 'salad of whatever you happen to have lying around'

The suspense! This was also our only meal with wine on the whole trip - we decided to try a local vintage with our fancy meal.

An easy dessert, but hard to beat. Moroccan oranges are the best! This is simply sliced oranges with strawberries, cinnamon, and powdered/icing sugar on top. Simple, beautiful, and delicious!!

Salade Aubergine

Ingredients: 

• Aubergine - cut up, remove some skin, rinse in H2O 
• Paprika - 2 heaping teaspoons 
• Cumin - 2 heaping teaspoons 
• garlic - 2 heaping teaspoons 
• olive oil - 2 tablespoons 
• salt - 1 teaspoon + some later 
• coriander 1.5 teaspoon 
• 1 cup water 

Directions: 5 minutes in pressure cooker. Squish them. Taste and season and let them boil down until it's a thick consistency.

Tajine Viande Agée Kefta

Ingredients: 

• 7 tomatoes 
• 1.5 tablespoons parsley 
• 2-3 teaspoon garlic 
• 1 heaping teaspoon cumin 
• 2 heaping teaspoon paprika 
• 1 heaping teaspoon salt 
• olive oil 2+ tablespoons 
• Ground meat - ground with onion, parsley, cumin and salt 
• egg 

Directions: Slice bottom of the tomato and then grate tomatoes into skillet. Mix in parsley, garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, and olive oil. Put tajine on fire and cover (or use a regular large sauce pan with lid). After 5 minutes, stir well. Make meatballs from ground meat (mix in onion, parsley, cumin, and salt if not pre-ground in). Add meat balls to tajine and cover. Wait until meatballs start to cook. Add egg on top and recover. Cook ∼20 minutes.

Bon apetit!